Antiguedades Peruanas by Rivero y Ustariz, Mariano Eduardo de; Tschudi, Juan Diego de - Vienna

A splendid work on ancient Peru and Pre-Columbine archeology. 1851. Vienna. Leopoldo Muller. In 4to and in Folio (225 mm x 140 mm; 550 mm x 430 mm). xxii + 306 + 1 [blank]; 1 [blank] + title + lviii lithographed plates (with iia), plate 38 in facsimile. Text –in the English version- in original brown cloth, a little rubbed and worn, with loss to head of spine, the atlas in original cloth-backed printed boards, rubbed and soiled as always but still quite handsome original binding, hardly ever preserved. Lower inner corners of first plates with a light waterstain, a very few other gently toned, else a very clean and fresh example. First complete edition –and the first of the important album. One of the most important and comprehensive works on Peruvian archaeology, and the first of its kind; it deals with the original inhabitants, their history and political system, language, religion, objects, costumes, monuments, burials & mommifications, and such. Rivero (1798 – 1857) was a prominent Peruvian scientist and archaeologist, Director to the National Museum of Lima. Tschudi (1818 – 1889) was a Swiss naturalist and explorer; he journeyed to Peru in 1838, where he would stay for five years, mainly in the Cordilleras of the Andes, from there he went to Brazil where he continued his research; it is, however, his stay in Peru that interest us. “A work of great importance on the ethnology and antiquities of Peru. It treats on the history, government, religion, language, science and arts of the Incas prior to the Spanish invasion, and contains the earliest authentic delineation of their architectural and other remains. The plates, which comprise upwards of eighty engravings, were executed with great care and finely colored. The original price of the two volumes was about $35.” (Sabin). The album contains a chromolithographic title, illustrated with the portraits of 14 Incas carved on the massive “Puerta” with a view of the Peruvian landscape and fauna, and 59 impressive colour and tinted lithographed plates, showing mommies, objects, ornaments, tapestries, relics, monuments, weapons & ruins. The text is in its English translation “Peruvian Antiquities”, 1853, New York. Sabin, 71643.